BATH TIME

Mama Penguin's watch says it's bath time at the igloo, but "You won't hear me complain!" exclaims her perky penguin daughter, who loves the tub. There's just one hitch: the little penguin goes overboard when it comes to toys: "I need some sudsy bubbles/ and a bubble pipe, of course,/ and my beach ball from last summer,/ and my frisky diving horse." By the time she adds "the soap, the sponge,/ the washcloth—one, two, three," she can't get in herself, "because/ there's just no room for me!" Spinelli, showing little of the spare lyricism found in her Night Shift Daddy, offers up an unsurprising execution of a familiar joke (for an approach with the same premise and a bit more zip, see last season's Tub Toys by Terry Miller Shannon and Timothy Warner). Pederson's (Baby for Sale) full-spread pencil-and-watercolor illustrations conjure the texture and naïf verve of a child's crayon drawings and conveys the narrator's bubbly eagerness. The artist also tucks in some fun details (observant readers will notice a copy of 101 Penguin Jokes on top of the igloo's toilet). Ages 3-6. (Apr.)